I was sitting down by the window, pondering whether I should obey Joseph and return to Elizabeth and Zacharias’ house, when I saw him. Joseph was practically running towards my house. I knew that something must have happened to him during the night. I ran to the door, and I opened it.
“Mary,” he screamed. My name in his lips sounded like the song of a blue jay. The music woke up in me all the memories of the love that we shared. “Mary!” He ran towards me, and without saying another word, he hugged me. I felt like the earth once again was still, and I knew that God had answered my prayers.
I invited him to come in, and to share a simple breakfast with me, made up of fresh baked bread, milk and figs. Once we ate, he told me about the dream that he had during the night. “I’ve hardly slept, Mary. But I must have dozed off, and I felt as if I was floating. Mary, I was happy, like the night when we sat outside your house to contemplate the moon and the stars, and I told you that you smelled like jasmine and lily of the valley. Then I saw a bright light, and an angel of the Lord appeared to me. He said: ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’” (1)
Joseph also told me that when he woke up, at first he doubted whether he should believe a dream. But then he remembered the stories that the rabbi would tell us in the synagogue, about how God would speak to our ancestors through dreams. He also realized that the peace that he was feeling at that moment was not of this world. “Therefore, I did not doubt anymore,” said Joseph. “I grabbed my coat, and I ran all the way here because I needed to hug you. Mary, I still don’t understand, but my love for you is bigger than what my mind can comprehend. Help me to understand, Mary.”
It took an angel to reassure us both that God had found a way. No human knowledge of science can explain such a thing. Only those who listen to angels’ voices can pierce that mystery. Joseph’s worries were overcome by a revelation from an angel. The very words of the angel: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife”, made him believe the impossible, and in an act of supreme faith, he pushed fear aside, and he accepted the mystery. Of course, I think that the reason why he was able to believe so easily is because there was already in his heart a belief in the Messiah, Christ, who was to come. Joseph knew that the Messiah would be born of the family of David, and he himself was of that family. He also knew of the prophecies concerning the Child, even the one of Isaiah that He would be born of a Virgin. If Joseph had not already been described as a just man, the message of the angel would have been enough to have inspired great purity in him.
Joseph’s eyes were still red from all the tears that he had shed in the previous days. His hands were shaking, but in his eyes, I saw peace and love. I hugged him hard, and I felt that on that day, our love had reached perfection. I had finally become his spouse, because nothing unites two souls that love each other more than the sharing of a secret. Therefore, all anxiety and anguish now leave Joseph, as his soul is filled with reverence and awe for the love of our secret, the Son of God.
Today, our Child united the three of us for all eternity.
Reflection:
Have I ever heard God talk to me in my dreams? How about in the silence of my heart? If I feel that I have heard God’s voice, do I pay attention or do I ignore it? What is God asking of me at this very moment?
Copyright © 2019 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.
References:
1. Matthew 1:20-21
Resources from the following books are being used on this journey:
1. The Mystical City of God: A Popular Abridgement of the Divine History and Live of the Virgin Mother of God by Venerable Mary of Agreda
2. The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God by Fulton J. Sheen
3. Las Palabras Calladas: Diario de Maria de Nazaret by Pedro Miguel Lamet
4. My Soul Magnifies the Lord: A Scriptural Journey with Mary by Jeanne Kun
All Bible references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise specified.
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